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Sunday, April 19, 2009

Out On A Limb

This is another scanned section of the Old Bones Painting, by Leslie Avon Miller

It takes a lot of guts for me to paint in nearly back and white, with a bit of grey, beige and brown. It takes a lot of guts to post paintings and collage on my blog that “break” so many design “rules”. It takes a lot of guts for me to follow this series along where it leads. I think my Muse has an astute wickedness about her, although she defies being defined or categorized. She is too individualized for that and she is fiercely creative and independent. And I think she laughs right out loud when I take delight and stand back from a delicious texture appearing on the surface of my work. She isn’t easy on me. And of course, I have to honor her, because I choose to and I know she has something to give me from all of this. I just don’t know what it might be.

I had a teacher in the 7th grade like that - Mrs. Smith. She really forced us to learn the parts of speech, and the elements of writing. She wasn’t very nice about it, and she was strict. She didn’t let us get away with “good enough.” It had to be correct. Remember diagramming sentences? Thanks to her, I have the skills to be able to write a decent sentence and to have the guts to also break those rules when it serves my purpose. For instance, the use of an occasional sentence fragment. For effect.

I have on occasion had the thought “I don’t use realistic subject matter, I don’t use color, I don’t use much contrast, I don’t use known, traditional compositions, and I don’t use much variety। I do use a lot of unity and texture। Could I make this any more difficult?”

It’s not like I don’t know the rules; I really do. I don’t know why the muse is leading me out on this limb….I keep thinking that this severely restricted color palette will run its course and I will move to something else, but the limb keeps stretching out before me….

I have been enjoying all the great comments and questions you have been leaving of late. So I’m going to address them in this post, rather than the pop up window of comments. After all, there is a conversational element to the enjoyment of blogging.

When I get to New Zealand and Australia with Kurt and Derrick as my traveling companions, I will definitely be up for all experiences including a secret sister Aussie initiation and a “chiko roll”, which I hope is vegan if it something to be consumed….

Mating and framing. What an issue. I had a 22 by 30 inch piece on heavy water color paper framed professionally once, and decided I better learn to do it myself. A local frame shop owner retired and we were fortunate to buy her professional (manual not computerized) mat cutter, her wall hung glass and straight edge cutter, frame tables, and other assorted odds and ends. The mat cutter lives in the mud room, protected by a cloth, and a barrier of empty cardboard boxes so no one sets anything on it. The space is too small to really use the cutter. The wall hung cutter is hung on the wall of the bedroom that was once the studio. I use it all the time to cut paper and mat board on the straight edge. The framing tables are in pieces awaiting installation in the new studio, which awaits insulation in the high ceilings and then drywall….in other words, I can’t really mat and frame yet, because the equipment is not set up. But yes, I yearn to mat and frame the small collage. The larger birch pieces, which Kurt makes for me, hang on the wall just as they are. Same with the gallery wrapped canvas he is learning to do.

Yes, there is an element here of rawness as well as darkness and light to the Old Bones and the Big Rocks. Thanks for putting those words to it. There is a lot of collage on the Old Bones piece. I don’t think there is any on the Big Rocks piece. Both pieces have been through a few incarnations in their process to be where they are today. As for textures; I have been creating textures for a long while now, and I pretty much know what I am going to get. There is an element of “accident” because it is not a tightly controlled process, which suits me, but I know which technique will give me which texture. And I do experiment and discover new things. I use a lot of acrylic paint, both liquid and heavy body. I use some water color, some inks, crayon D’arch, occasional pastels, graphite pencils, markers, and oil pastels (I love Sennelier oil pastels, as they are butter soft.) I have undoubtedly left out something in this list. Sometimes I use a lot of transfers. I put pigments on with a wide variety of techniques including my fingers, sticks of wood, bamboo skewers, rags, papers of many varieties and sometimes even a paint brush. I take some pigment back off with alcohol, sand paper, rubbing, more reverse transfers. Sometimes I work with my eyes closed, to get closer to intuitive gesture.

I don’t often varnish my work. I should explore that more. I know that Margaret had a list of how to do this at her blog, including spraying a mixture of mediums thinned down with water. I want to try that. That would keep graphite from smearing. Some times I put a mixture of cold wax and Gamblin Galkyd oil as the last layer. I have tried the faux encaustic recipe written by Golden Acrylics. I would love to find new ways to write on my work also.

I believe the Universe has great plans for us, and does smile on us. I think coaching helps us see, believe, and be brave. I love coaching. I love to be coached and the muse is clearly a fan of coaching. I believe that if you have read this whole post, you have read a lot! I’m off to the studio….the muse calls.

I had a good English teacher, but she would be angry with me now because I have gotten so sloppy over the years; either that or my right brain kidnapped my left brain and has it bound and gagged, and stuffed in a filing cabinet.

The Universe does have plans for all of us, but we need to be tuned in. Did I end that sentence right? I don't think so.

Leslie dear, I so love your work... and you, too, of course! You do abstract so very well. Probably because of my former textile background I love tactile surfaces, both to touch and visually, and I'd sure like to touch the Old Bones piece. It's wonderful in detail and probably as a whole, too. You make me want to go to the studio and make stuff but we're at Cannon Beach this week with no studio... just a sketchbook and my watercolors when what I long for right now is acrylics and a big space on which to play.Thanks for being so open about your processes and your ideas. Generosity like yours returns 10-fold.

I just pop in to say how much your work speaks to me. You're an excellent abstract painter and I love that you break all the rules, for your paintings are wonderful and how can that be wrong??The thoughts, believings and discussions you share on your blog are highly appreciateds too, so thank you very much!

I'm still loving your "bones" piece...all angles. How wonderful to happen upon these framing materials...a great cost cutter. Keep us posted on the varnish adventures. Love to see photos of your studio when all is set up and organized!

I loved reading this post. I love limited palette work and as I think I've mentioned before, some of your pieces remind me of wild walks I have taken when the weather has come down onto the hills and you find yourself in such a scene. I know you say you don't use realistic subject matter, but some of your pieces are incredibly evocative of place, be it physical or imagined. Tough territory, but wonderful. Elemental.

Diagramming sentences sounds like something I'm glad to have missed. Now I'm checking back over my words just in case........

Fascinated by this idea of a "mud room". I assume it's a place to leave outdoor gear to dry, but my imagination would like to think otherwise.

I also love your limited palette. There's such depth in Old Bones and I feel that I can see into it forever. My eyes are picking up whole new worlds.Microcosms...macrocosms. There's movement and busy-ness and I'm sure all the moles of Duncton Wood are venturing and burrowing, scavenging and hunting benieth the earth.....sorry I'm getting carried away but I just love this painting.

I have always believed that rules are there for if you need them. What takes courage, I have found, is doing something that is different for you, outside your comfort zone. You should not be having qualms, though, the quality of your creations is the only endorsement you need. Excellent.

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Like breathing

Being an artist is like breathing. It’s this incredible urge to create, that you can’t question. Like breathing you just have to do it, or else you will die.

~Marina Abramović

Click on Image to go to my Tumbler Blog of Things I Love

Andrew Wyeth

Art is never a luxury

Life has an inside as well as an outside. Consumer culture directs all resources and attention to life on the outside. What happens to the inner life? Art is never a luxury because it stimulates and responds to the inner life. We are badly out of balance.

I don't think of art / creativity as a substitute for anything else. I see it as a powerful expression of our humanity - and on the side of humanity under threat.

If we say art is a luxury, we might as well say that being human is a luxury.

Jeanette Winterson

About Me

Leslie Avon Miller experiences her work as a means to observe and honor the world around her. This requires solitude, contemplation and stillness as the work evolves. Once the finished pieces are shared with others they become a conversation between the artist and the viewer.
Each collage is as an entry into a journal, keeping in mind, as Heraclitus said; we can’t step into the same river twice.
The compulsion for creating collage comes from experiencing life as beautifully wild, poignant, and fleeting. The process of creating collage clears space and light for experiencing the moments.

Studio things

More Studio Things

The creation and response to a visual image is a circle

A creative act is not linear. It does not start at “A” and end at “Z” with a product that is wholly explainable. One can neither predict beforehand nor fully comprehend afterwards the steps involved. It is both intellectual and emotional and totally human.

Afternoon

Spend the afternoon. You can't take it with you.

- Annie Dillard

Unique Expression

There is a vitality, a life-force, a quickening that is translated through you into action. And because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique. If you block it, it will never exist through another medium. It will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is…It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open.

Martha Graham

The Process

I am against being too goal-oriented. “Getting there is half the fun”- especially in art, where the question could well be: is there a “there” there? The process is always valuable in its own right, especially so when it allows us to become freer, less rigid, more alert to all the happenings on the page.